Toothbrush tray



J y 1955 J. T. PUTNAM ET AL TOOTHBRUSH TRAY Filed Dec. 2, i952 m m s 0A s $5M 7 M m WI MM Na TOOTHBRUSH- TRAY .lohn T. Putnam, Brantford, Ontario, and Douglas B. Bruce, Paris, Ontario, Canada Application December 2, 1952, Serial No. 323,536

Claims priority, application Canada, March 21, 1952 5 Claims. (Cl. 206-65) This invention has to do with trays and in particular to trays used to pack toothbrushes for shipment over long distances.

It has been found that when these brushes were packed in conventional packings the bristles were often bent or otherwise damaged and the handles were scratched or broken by the knocks received during transit.

It is an object of this invention to provide a packing tray which will hold a large number of toothbrushes and which will prevent any possible damage to the bristles or handles in transit.

One feature of this invention which enables the above mentioned object to be accomplished is the provision of troughs and ridges into and on which the brushes rest. The ridges, which are troughs on their reverse side are spaced so that the bristles are protected from contact with the wrapping or succeeding trough and accommo-v date a large number of brushes in side by side relationship.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a tray for the shipping of toothbrushes which will afford the maximum packaging of toothbrushes per inch of tray, thus saving in the cubical volume of shipping containers.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a tray for the packaging of toothbrushes which will hold securely toothbrushes of all styles, shapes and sizes. This feature eliminates the necessity of using different types of trays for different styles of toothbrushes.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a toothbrush tray which is designed to hold the toothbrushes firmly in place without the necessity of packing in cavities or using spacer cards, elastic tape or any other holding means.

Other features and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following description when read in conjunction with the appended drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of one tray.

Figure 2 is a side elevation view of a plurality of trays stacked together with the toothbrushes in position.

In the preferred embodiment as illustrated in Figure 1, it will be seen that the toothbrush tray is made up of sections (in the drawings four in number) each section holding a group of brushes. There may be any number of these sections but four sections have been found convenient.

Looking now at the drawings it will be seen that the tray is provided with ridges 11. The ridges 11 comprise side walls 12 and 13 and a sloping top surface 14. The top faces 14 of the ridges 11 are provided so that when the head 15 of the brush 16 is lying on the flat surface 17 of the tray the handle 18 of the toothbrush lies flat on the top surface of the ridge.

The trays are symmetrical about a line AA in Figure 2 so that for every ridge 11 rising above the line AA there is a corresponding ridge 19 falling below the line AA. The ridges 19 are mirror images of the ridges 11 and have sloping bottom surfaces 20 parallel to the top surfaces 14. Thus, when the trays are stacked nited S ttes Patent ice one upon the other the surface 20 lies flat upon the handles 18 of the brushes and holds them securely in place.

As will be seen from Figure 2 any size or shape of a toothbrush may be packed with equal ease and safety in the tray and trays containing ditferent brushes may be piled upon each other. When the trays are empty and awaiting packing they may be nested together with a maximum economy of storage space.

As was indicated above the tray may be made of a variety of materials such as wood, plastic, moulded pulp, moulded pulp and resin and moulded pulp and rosin or any suitable material without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

We claim:

1. A shipping package, comprising a shipping case; a plurality of elongated articles; and a stack of identical trays supporting said articles in side-by-side relationship in superposed layers within the case; each tray comprising a flat portion; an upwardly projecting ridge extending across the tray and providing a support for parts of said articles adjacent ends thereof, said articles being disposed on said tray to extend generally transversely to the direction of extent of said ridge and with their other ends supported by said flat portion; and a downwardly projecting ridge extending across the tray parallel to said upwardly projecting ridge and bearin on a lower layer of articles disposed in like fashion on the tray next beneath, said downwardly projecting ridge bearing on said lower layer of articles at points intermediate of the supports therefor provided by the upwardly projecting ridge and the flat portion of the underlying tray.

2. A shipping package, comprising a shipping case; a

plurality of elongated articles; and a stack of identical trays supporting said articles in side-by-side relationship in superposed layers within the case; each tray comprising a flat portion; a first upwardly projecting ridge extending across the tray and bordering on said fiat portion; a second upwardly projecting ridge extending across the tray parallel to said first ridge and providing a support for parts of said articles adjacent ends thereof, said articles being disposed on said tray to extend generally transversely to the direction of extent of said ridges and with their other ends supported by said fiat portion and in abutment with said first ridge; and a downwardly projecting ridge extending across the tray parallel to the upwardly projecting ridges and disposed between said second upwardly projecting ridge and the fiat portion, said downwardly projecting ridge bearing on a lower layer of articles disposed in like fashion on the tray next beneath, said downwardly projecting ridge bearing on said lower layer of articles at points intermediate of the supports therefor provided by the second upwardly projecting ridge and the flat portion of the underlying tray.

3. A shipping package as claimed in claim 2, wherein said second upwardly projecting ridge has a flat upper surface sloped to lie parallel to the articles so as to provide a support therefor over a substantial portion of the length of said articles.

4. A shipping package as claimed in claim 2, wherein said downwardly projecting ridge has a fiat lower surface sloped to lie parallel to the afticles so as to bear down on said articles over a substantial portion of the length thereof.

5. A shipping package as claimed in claim 2, wherein each tray supports at least two rows of said articles, the first upwardly projecting ridge abutting the ends of the articles of one row, constituting the said second upwardly projecting ridge supporting the articles of the adjacent L 4 Leslie, 2nd Jan. 21, Grant Apr. 11, Grant June 19, Shepard Aug. 21, Fryda Oct. 2,

FOREIGN PATENTS GreatBritain June 5, Great Britain July 31, 

